Rockies closer LaTroy Hawkins joined some elite company Saturday night in Los Angeles when he made his 1,00th big-league appearance. (David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)

LOS ANGELES — The applause inside the visitors’ clubhouse was loud and sustained as the Rockies celebrated closer LaTroy Hawkins late Saturday night.

They also presented him with a signed bottle of Dom Perignon.

And why not? It’s not often that a teammate joins a baseball fraternity that includes the likes of Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersley, Hoyt Wilhelm, Trevor Hoffman and Goose Gossage.

The 41-year-old Hawkins made the 1,000th appearance of his major-league career, becoming just the 16th pitcher to hit that magical mark. For the record, he has 124 saves and has pitched 1,428 2/3 innings in his career.

Hey, Rockies fans, you know what you need this morning after Monday night’s 4-3 loss to the Padres? How about a little dose of humor from legendary football coach John McKay. McKay was the first head coach in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history, a team that went 0-26 over it’s first two seasons.

As the Rockies continue to lose, making a third consecutive last-place finish in the NL West very likely, and the first 100-loss season in franchise history a possibility, a couple of McKay’s quips are in order.

Each loss, it seems, is characterized by a new wrinkle. Friday night, it was Arizona’s David Peralta stealing home against catcher Mike McKenry and pitcher Rex Brothers with two outs in the seventh inning.

Peralta was perched on third after hitting a triple. McKenry lobbed a return throw to Brothers. Peralta, sensing McKenry inattentiveness, dashed home and scored easily. Brothers, seeing Peralta break for home, had rushed toward the plate as McKenry’s toss sailed over his head.

It’s not just that the Rockies are losing that’s draining the life out of the club, it’s the way they are losing.

They led in all three games at Pittsburgh last weekend and lost all three times. The same thing occurred Tuesday night in a 7-4 loss to the Nationals. A 3-0 lead after three innings was wasted by another bullpen implosion.

“We played pretty well early and (starting pitcher Yohan) Flande did a nice job,” manager Walt Weiss said. “But we are struggling to put games away.”

The games was tied 4-4 entering the seventh when reliever Brooks Brown walked Denard Span and gave up a single to Anthony Rendon. Brown struck out Jayson Werth, and then Weiss brought in lefty Rex Brothers to face lefty Adam LaRoche.

Rockies outfielder Michael Cuddyer hopes to be back on the field by mid-August. (Getty Images file photo)

Some rare good news out of the Rockies’ clubhouse late Monday night: Outfielder Michael Cuddyer, the 2013 NL batting champion, received a thumbs up after undergoing an MRI on his broken left shoulder socket. It will take a while for him to gain strength and motion, but he’s hoping for a return in late- to mid-August.

“It’s pretty much what we thought we were going to hear — that it’s healing,” Cuddyer said. “I can start the strengthening process. We don’t have a specific timeline, because it’s all symptomatic right now.

“But hopefully, three weeks from now, I can go out on a rehab (assignment) and I would be back five days after that.”

The superlative stats regarding Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who blanked the Rockies for eight innings and gave up just two hits Friday night at Coors Field: (Big thanks to the Rockies’ media relations department)

* His performance came 16 days after he no-hit the Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

* He needed just 93 pitches (67 strikes) in his latest gem.

* Kershaw extended his scoreless innings streak to 36.0 innings, third longest in Los Angeles Dodgers history and the longest in the majors this season. Only Orel Hershiser (59 innings in 1988) and Don Drysdale (58 in 1968) have longer such streaks in L.A. Dodgers history.

Rockies starter Jair Jurrjens lasted just 4 2/3 innings Friday night against the Dodgers. After his start, he was taken to a Denver hospital because of breathing problems. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

Jair Jurrjens, the 13th different starter the Rockies have used this season, was taken to the hospital during Friday night’s game because of what a Rockies spokesman called “breathing problems.” Jurrjens pitched only 4 2/3 innings, but the Rockies said the breathing problems were not the reason he was taken out of the game.

I ran into Jurrjens as I was leaving Coors Field late Friday night. He said the altitude affected him, but said he was better after getting checked out at the hospital. However, Jurrjens was still having some trouble breathing normally as he talked to me.

After the game against the Dodgers, the Rockies said the matter was not considered serious, adding that he was taken to the hospital for tests and observation.

Jurrjens had pitched at Coors Field’s high altitude four times before his start Friday night and didn’t have any previous problems, he said.

Before his breathing problems, Jurrjens had a difficult night on the mound in his first start in a Rockies uniform. He gave up eight runs on 12 hits in his 4 2/3 innings. The 12 hits set a career high and the eight runs matched a career high.

Carlos Gomez of the Milwaukee Brewers steals second base in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Rockies. More photos from the game. (Mike McGinnis, Getty Images)

MILWAUKEE — Get me re-write! Oh, wait, different era entirely.

There were a lot of questions to be asked after the Rockies lost 3-2 to the Brewers Friday night, suffering their 10th defeat in their last 11 games. A few of those questions didn’t get answered in my deadline game story, so I’ll attempt to answer them here:

1. Why did manager Walt Weiss elect to have Matt Belisle pitch to Ryan Braun in the ninth instead of intentionally walking Braun to get to Jonathan Lucroy

Lucroy, hitting .330, is having a great year, but Braun is one of the baseball’s most feared hitters.

“It was one of those pick-your-poison situations,” Weiss said. “I wanted to give (Belisle) a couple of pitches to see where we were at. I wasn’t going to let (Braun) hit in a good hitter’s count.

“I will always take responsibility for that one. It’s not a great situation to be in, facing Braun or facing Lucroy, who is second in the league in hitting.”

Rockies pitcher Christian Friedrich missed the tag on Milwaukee’s Jean Segura in the third inning of last Friday’s loss.

I think it’s fair to say that this has been the week from hell for the Rockies. After a promising run that landed Troy Tulowitzki on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Nolan Arenado in the franchise history books and the team atop the National League West, the Rockies have since fallen to 12th in the National League with a 34-42 record after losing their past seven straight.

Nearly their entire pitching corps is injured and/or struggling, and they rank last in the majors in team ERA (4.88). Tulowitzki consistently looks as though he’s on the verge of tears. And, frankly, the Rockies just look awful.

So, how good was Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw Wednesday night as he no-hit the Rockies? Check out this stat from the Elias Sports Bureau: Kershaw is the first player ever in the history of Major League Baseball with 15 strikeouts without allowing either a hit or walk.

Also, according to Elias, of Kershaw’s career-high 15 strikeouts, 14 came on breaking balls. The 14 strikeouts on breaking balls are the most in a single start since pitch types were first started being tracked in 2009.

You can check out the reaction of Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in the above video.

Tyler Matzek’s first pitch in the major leagues was a 96 mph fastball to Jason Heyward. And he wasn’t shy about it. Matzek tried to pitch with a reliever’s mindset, he said — never leave anything on the table.

He went on to give the Rockies their best pitching game of the season Wednesday against Atlanta, in an 8-2 victory.

“Part of my game is staying aggressive and having a reliever’s mindset,” Matzek said. “If I try to be soft, stuff gets hit a little bit more.”

On the day the Rockies were rained out before finishing the third game of a homestand against San Francisco on May 23, they were 26-21 — three games behind the Giants in the National League West. Since then, over 17 games, the Rockies have gone 3-14. That includes a 13-10 slugfest loss Tuesday to Atlanta.

Colorado is now 12 1/2 games behind the Giants — and just 1 1/2 games ahead of last place Arizona.

But Troy Tulowitzki, the Rockies’ all-star shortstop, said he is sticking by his team. And recently, he seems to being going out of his way to stand up in this slump and defend his team.

Rockies right-hander Eddie Butler went on the disabled list Monday with shoulder inflammation after making his big-league debut last Friday against the Dodgers. (Justin Edmonds, Getty Images)

The contrast in the Rockies’ clubhouse was stark late Monday night.

First came word from a major-league source that 23-year-old left-hander Tyler Matzek, the club’s 2009 first-round draft choice, will start Wednesday night’s game against the Braves. It will be Matzek’s long-awaited major-league debut.

Then into the clubhouse walked veteran right fielder Michael Cuddyer, the defending National League batting champion. His left arm was cradled in a sling as he talked about an injury that will bench him for at least six weeks, and probably a lot longer.

Just moments before that, right-hander Christian Bergman had been talking about his own big-league debut — an impressive six-inning, two-run, five-hit effort that was overshadowed by another Rockies defeat. Their offense a no-show again, the Rockies lost 3-1 to the Braves, the Rockies’ 10th defeat in their last 11 games.

In losing a seventh consecutive game — their longest losing streak since a nine-game plunge in 2012 — Rockies manager Walt Weiss on Thursday was a little more testy and a little less sympathetic in his post-game comments.

A Rockies season that started with such promise is now on the edge of disintegrating.

Not simply because the Rockies blew an 8-5 lead Wednesday night and lost 16-8 to the Diamondbacks — cellar-dwellers of the NL West. And not simply because they have now lost six consecutive games, their longest losing streak since September 2012.

But because:

Starting pitcher Jordan Lyles broke his left hand in the first inning. He battled through four innings, but eventually had to leave the game. He will go on the disabled list, but how long he’ll be out is still to be determined. He is scheduled to see a hand specialist on Thursday.

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle “Rocktober” in 2007 and also following the team’s playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.